Helper Functions Reference

webrium/core defines a set of global helper functions that are loaded automatically when the package is installed — available everywhere in your application without any use statements. Most are thin wrappers around the core classes, designed for quick, expressive access in routes, controllers, and views. They work identically whether you are using Core standalone or as part of the full Webrium framework.

URL & Routing

url(string $path = ''): string

Generate a full URL for a given relative path.

url('products/list'); // https://example.com/products/list
url();                // https://example.com

current_url(): string

Get the full URL of the current request.

current_url(); // https://example.com/users/42?tab=settings

route(string $name, array $params = []): string

Generate a URL for a named route.

route('users.show', ['id' => 42]); // /users/42

Responses & Redirects

respond(mixed $data, int $statusCode = 200): never

Send a response and terminate the request. Arrays and objects are JSON-encoded automatically; any other value is cast to string and sent as-is.

return respond(['status' => 'ok']);
return respond(['error' => 'Not found'], 404);

redirect(string $url, int $statusCode = 303): never

Redirect to a URL and terminate the request. URLs containing line breaks are rejected with an InvalidArgumentException to prevent header injection.

return redirect('/login');
return redirect('/dashboard', 302);

back(): never

Redirect to the previous page, based on the Referer header. Falls back to the application base URL if no referer is present.

return back();

Building Response Payloads — html(), json(), text()

These return a ResponsePayload object (with the right Content-Type set) instead of terminating the request, so you return them from a controller and let the framework send them. This is the alternative to respond() when you want to set the content type explicitly or keep building the response.

return html('<h1>Hello</h1>');         // text/html; charset=utf-8
return json(['status' => 'ok']);       // application/json; charset=utf-8
return text('plain output');           // text/plain; charset=utf-8

return json(['error' => 'Not found'], 404);

• html(string $content, int $statusCode = 200): ResponsePayload
• json(mixed $data, int $statusCode = 200): ResponsePayload — encodes the data here; if encoding fails it returns a 500 error payload instead.
• text(string $content, int $statusCode = 200): ResponsePayload

Request Input

input(?string $name = null, mixed $default = null): mixed

Retrieve a value from the current request — query string for GET, body for POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE (JSON or form-encoded).

input('email');                // a single field
input('page', 1);              // with a default
input();                       // all input as an array

Validation, Errors & Old Input

errors(string|false $name = false): mixed

Retrieve flashed validation errors from the previous request.

errors();          // all errors: ['field' => 'message', ...]
errors('email');   // error message for 'email', or null

old(string $name, mixed $default = ''): mixed

Retrieve the previous request's input value for a field — useful for repopulating forms.

old('email');
old('email', '[email protected]');

message(bool $justGetText = false): mixed

Retrieve a flashed message from the previous request.

message();        // full message data
message(true);    // raw text only

Paths

All path helpers except root_path() resolve through directory aliases registered in the Directory class, so they reflect your project's actual configured paths. Each accepts an optional sub-path and returns an absolute filesystem path (an empty string if the alias is not registered).

public_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the public directory.

public_path('images/logo.png');

app_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the app directory.

app_path('Models/User.php');

storage_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the application's storage directory.

storage_path('logs/app.log');
storage_path('app/uploads');

config_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the config directory.

config_path('database.php');

resource_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path inside the views directory.

resource_path('emails/welcome.php');

root_path(string $path = ''): string

Absolute path relative to the project root (resolved directly from the application root, not via a directory alias).

root_path('composer.json');

Configuration & Localization

env(string $name, mixed $default = null): mixed

Retrieve a value from .env.

env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');
env('APP_DEBUG', false);
env('OPTIONAL_KEY');           // returns null if unset

lang(string $key, array $replacements = []): string

Translate a string using the current locale.

lang('messages.welcome');
lang('messages.greeting', ['name' => 'Alice']);

Frontend

vite_assets(?string $entryPoint = null): string

Render the appropriate <script>/<link> tags for Vite assets — the dev server tag in development, or hashed manifest assets in production. Pass an entry point to override the default.

<head>
    {!! vite_assets() !!}
    {!! vite_assets('resources/js/admin.js') !!}
</head>

Debugging

dump(mixed ...$vars): void

Pretty-print one or more values without stopping execution. On the CLI this is a plain var_dump(); anywhere else, each value is wrapped in a styled, HTML-escaped <pre> block (so a dumped string can never inject markup into the page).

dump($user);
dump($user, $request->all());

dd(mixed ...$vars): never

dump() plus exit(1) — dump one or more values and immediately stop execution ("dump and die"), so you're only ever looking at the one thing you dropped it next to.

dd($user);           // inspect $user, request ends here
dd($a, $b, $c);      // dump all three, then stop

Quick Reference Table